Since each of us wants our greeting card business to grow and prosper, it’s important that we understand how to send out cards to impact business growth. This understanding will help in several ways. First, we will be able to share with our customers and prospects the details and results of sending out cards. If we don’t send out cards, how can we share the experience and benefit from the process? Second, over time, we will gather a collection of stories about what happened as a result of sending cards. Often, amazing things happen when you send out a card – you will start to get thank you calls for thank you cards, and cards back with moving messages in return for the heart-felt cards you are sending. And finally, because people would rather do business with people they know, like, and trust, your cards will be building your relationships with others who can refer you business when they have the opportunity.

So, why would you send out a card to someone? Here’s a list of 10 ways to send out cards to grow your own greeting card business:

1. After you meet with a prospect, whether they said no, yes or maybe.
2. As a thank you when someone does something nice for you, like a referral, a gift, or a dinner invitation
3. After you close a business deal
4. After a networking event, send a card saying “it was nice to meet you”
5. After a telephone conversation with a prospect
6. After an interview for a job, a project, or to use their services
7. For a holiday – remember all the less acknowledged holidays
8. To stay in touch with someone you haven’t heard from for a while
9. For a birthday
10. As a heart-felt surprise to make someones day

I will go into detail about each of of these ideas in future posts to explain some good ways to use these methods. These are good ideas to share with your greeting card business customers and prospects so they learn how to use cards to grow their business, too. Check back soon for more information. For more info on starting your own greeting card business, click here.

One of my goals as a greeting card business owner is to use greeting cards in my own business to build relationships with customers, prospects and networking partners. A good excuse for sending a heartfelt card is a holiday. Many people send holiday cards to friends and family, and many businesses send a promotional holiday card to their customers. The “corporate holiday card” is typically all about the business, with a logo, the business name, or even a business card thrown inside. The recipient probably doesn’t get a warm, fuzzy feeling of appreciation when receiving those cards. A better idea may be to create a heart-felt message expressing appreciation for the customer, their patronage and support, with all the focus of the card being directed toward the customer rather than the business sending the card. This approach will let your customers know you care about them, and they are important to you.

Another great idea is to pick a holiday that is not traditionally a card-sending holiday – like Halloween, or Ground Hog’s Day, or Memorial Day. You should probably send a Christmas or Seasons Greetings card, even though your customers will be getting many of these and you fear getting lost in the pile of other cards they receive. When you send a Halloween card, you can be confident that’s the only Halloween card your customer will have received!

Sending a heart-felt card is the important step we are stressing here. Using the holidays as a ready-made excuse to send cards is a great idea. So put on your creativity hat and start thinking about what would make a splash for your spooky Halloween card this year. For more info on starting your own greeting card business, click here.